What’s in a brew? Eight craft beer for wine lovers

The biggest overarching difference between wine and beer is the natural acidity of wine. (Contributed)

If you are a beer lover, you undoubtedly happily share your latest craft brew find with your beer drinking friends with pride. But what happens when the wine lover comes over? There’s really no reason to think there isn’t a local craft beer that will appeal to them — they just may not have been introduced to the right style.

The biggest overarching difference between wine and beer is the natural acidity of wine, but there is any number of beer styles that have a tart character. Many wheat ales, especially unfiltered styles, gain a little sourness from the yeast remaining in the beer, and farmhouse style brews often have an appealing tang. The most famous and revered are Belgian-style Lambic (part of the broader category known as sour beers) which in many ways are the beer world’s equivalent to Burgundian Pinot Noir. Both sour beers and Burgundian Pinot Noir have a sort of Holy Grail element to them, as when they strike the right chord of controlled funk and edgy sourness that can teeter on vinegary disaster they are sublime. David Flaherty, in an article published in Serious Eats, once said:

“It smelled of horse butt, dabbed with vinegar and blue cheese” as a positive description of his first experience with a legendary sour beer.

Unless your wine drinking friends are some of those rarified geeks that hope to find a barnyard-like funk in their Pinot, don’t try to introduce them to sour beers as a point of entry to the craft beer world. You’d probably be wise to not to crack the Imperial India Pale Ale either, as extreme hop bitterness, such as found in many extreme styles of Pale Ale, are often the most shocking element of craft beer to the neophyte.

LIKE RIESLING? TRY A WIT

Riesling has a love it or hate like relationship with many wine lovers. I love it when it’s made well. I suspect there is a similar reaction to Belgian-style Wit with beer drinkers. Great Rieslings possess remarkably fragrant aromatic profiles and even when made into sweeter edged styles remain balanced. The same applies to Wit, which can have almost sweet citrus flavour, accented by mild exotic spice notes. When made well they have a refreshingly tart finish to counterbalance any perceived sweetness.

Pick: Garrison Nit Wit

LIKE MOSCATO? TRY A WEIZEN

German-style wheat ales such as Hefeweizen are exotically fruity in nature with banana and bubble gum notes dominating. I liken their overt but pleasingly fruity nature to that of Italian Moscato D’Asti or local wines such as Nova 7 or Jost Selkie made in the Moscato style.

Pick: Uncle Leo’s Voh’s Weizenbier

LIKE PINOT GRIGIO? TRY A LAGER

Pinot Grigio has become a bit ubiquitous, much like generic lager was is in the 1980s and 1990s. Pinot Grigio is popular because of its subtle flavour and mild acidity. I call it a drinkability factor. Not all Pinot Grigio are devoid of flavour. The best from Italy’s Alto-Adige can have vibrant pear and citrus notes coupled with mineral-edge acidity. The same can be said of craft lagers as they are rarely heavy or drying but can display flavour, unlike some of their mega-brewery alternatives.

Pick: Good Robot

Leave Me Blue Corn

LIKE SAUVIGNON BLANC? TRY A PILSNER (PILSENER)

Sauvignon Blanc offer vibrant grapefruit , pepper and grassy-like aromas and flavours. When great they are vibrant and even have an almost edgy much like classic European-style Pilsner which offer fragrant grassy even spicy hop notes and crisp, drying finishes.

Pick: Propeller Bohemian Style Pilsener

LIKE PINOT NOIR? TRY A BELGIAN-STYLE ALE

Great Pinot Noir boasts a remarkable balance of earthy funkiness, bright fruitiness and a refreshing tang. Belgian-style ales often share a remarkably similarly combination of fruity and earthy tones.

Pick: North Brewing Farmhouse Ale

LIKE MALBEC? TRY A PALE ALE

The rise in popularity of Argentinean Malbec shares a remarkably similar timeline to the rise in popularity of craft beer. The interest of both has exploded over the last decade. Malbec is the red wine choice of the populous as their immediately appealing juicy plum and blueberry flavours and typically mild dry finishes make most Malbec very easy to drink. I liken their appeal to craft brewed English-style Pale Ales. These beers offer up lots of fruity esters but only moderate hop bitterness.

Pick: Hell Bay Pale Ale

LIKE CABERNET SAUVIGNON? TRY AN INDIA PALE ALE

If you like Cabernet Sauvignon you are likely not afraid of flavour or a little bit tannic bitterness. Tannins, found in grape skins and oak, provide red wines their appetizingly dry finishes much like hops do for beer. India Pale Ale is the beer world’s Cabernet Sauvignon, as they possess elevated hop bitterness in the finish.

Pick: Rockbottom Fathom IPA

LIKE SHIRAZ? TRY A STOUT OR PORTER

Shiraz, especially when made in warm New World regions such as South Australia, can have remarkably bold dark flavours, are often accented with lashings of oak which can contribute vanilla, coffee or even chocolate notes. There’s nothing shy or subtle about them. If you like milder, entry level Shiraz try an easy drinking, sweet-edged Stout or Porter such as Garrison Martello Stout but if your tastes veer to high-octane bold, oaky styles such as top Barossa Valley (Australia) styles go for a wood-aged version such as Big Spruce’s Ra Ra Rasputin Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout. Ra Ra Rasputin recently was titled Beer of the Year at the Atlantic Canadian Beer Awards.